This column’s song title comes from the highly influential — in my formative years, at least — album Human=Garbage by the anarcho crust punk band Dystopia. Lines like these were once attractive to an angry and borderline nihilistic young man:
“Humanity is diggin’ its own grave
From the master in the high rise
To his hunched over slaves
We are all to blame
We’re all wasteful and greedy.”
But I take some exception now, in my more rounded middle years. Every demonic force fueling the jet engines of unrestricted capitalist industries, from plastics to military contractors, from wasteful transportation and power grids to grotesque corporate mega-agriculture practices, is selling the lie that individual culpability among the disorganized masses, rather than the far-reaching policies and actions of an extremely powerful few, is the cause of our current ecocide. Which is, of course, reactionary bullshit. There’s a lot wrong with the individual choices we make but we could collectively rectify those errors to the benefit of everyone from bumblebees to the next generation of children who likely don’t want to be born full of forever chemicals and plastics.
One course correction that comes to mind is a pure fantasy and therefore not actionable as an endorsement of possible criminal behavior, but if we were as a fully collective and committed group, to put the extremely powerful few in a Wicker Man, or an ocean, or a one-way spaceship to test the far frontiers of irony, the world at large would benefit immeasurably. I’m an avowed pacifist but it can’t be denied that a little bit of red compliments green in our more festive times. And these could be festive times, before the world has yet turned barren at the hands of the greediest and most destructive humans in the history of our species. Things are heading toward desperation and we are already generally out of our minds with the accelerating horror. I have recommended it before and I will do so again: Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry for the Future is a novel that addresses this concept quite well, with some positive results.
To paraphrase the Gospel of Luke, “For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Perhaps we should consider pruning a few branches now, while there is still dry wood and green wood alike on this Earth, our only home. Not as individuals but as a band of compatriots, bonded by a desire to not only survive, but to see ourselves and the creatures — present and future — we share this gorgeous globe with genuinely thrive.
Go forth and do good things together for us all.
Thursday
It’s the beginning of a two-night duet of reggae pleasure for all of you high-steppers out there looking for some top-class grooves to get down and scoot around to. The Bermudian by way of New Orleans singer and dancehall darling Collie Buddz is back in town, returning to the Arcata Theatre Lounge tonight at 7 p.m., where he will be joined by the Jamaican entertainer and multi-instrumentalist Hector Roots Lewis for a night of good rhythms for happy people. Tickets are ranging online from $55-$59, and if the past is truly prologue to the present, you should snag yours sooner rather than later, as this will likely be a popular extravaganza.
Friday
It’s another night of reggae and toasty tunes, this time at Humbrews at 8:30 p.m., when Jamaican-American singer and deejay Chuck Fenda and the Purity Attack Band roll through the northern 707 all the way from Brooklyn, NYC. Along for the ride is Jamaican artist Lawgiver the Kingson born in (where else?) Kingston and now recognized as a globe-spanning ambassador of contemporary reggae. Our own local riddim-loving DJ Sarge One will be providing interstitial sounds to keep the vibes green on the vine between sets ($18, $15 advance).
Saturday
Portland, Oregon-based Native musician and Saddle Creek Records artist Katherine Paul, better known by her stage name Black Belt Eagle Scout, is a marvel of post-rock innovation, blending fuzzy after-grunge sparks with the sounds of her heritage with a result which rises higher than the sum total of its ingredients. I highly recommend this show as a fine way to immerse your weekend in something wonderful and unique. Speaking of which, local support Fig from Blood Hunny fame is quite a rare and fantastic sound-maker as well, so you really can’t miss this one if you feel a springtime unfurling is in order to dust off the winter detritus of your blossoming soul. The Miniplex is the place, the hour of power is 8:30 p.m. and advance tickets will run you $15, $18 at the door the night of. Enjoy.
Easter Sunday
Gruff Rhys was, once upon a time in my youth, known as one of the fine minds behind ’90s Welsh rock act Super Furry Animals. He has since gone on to move his muse into different neighborhoods, becoming a writer, filmmaker, composer and artistic odd-man, following a warm line of connections between his homeland and our own vast and bizarre country. His concept album, American Interior, about the 18th century Welsh explorer John Evans, is on the setlist tonight at the Miniplex at 7 p.m., where he will be joined by guitar-painter Chris Forsyth for a show that is certain to create vast landscapes from the transitory anti-matter of music in a fashion that would create envy among alchemists and architects ($20, $15 advance).
Monday
Hooo boy … you hear that? Me neither. It’s an eerily quiet night on the Pacific range. Let your imagination fill in the missing notes nestled in the sounds of our Lost Coast.
Tuesday
The world is often a mixed load of contradictions and sorrows wrapped in the taffy of pleasure and good fortune. Tonight’s gig is a perfect example of that phenomenon. The Opera Alley Cats, one of the finest jazz ensembles on the West Coast, is still playing its regular free 7 p.m. slot at the Speakeasy. However, the band is down a very important member due to an ongoing and unavoidable infirmity that hits more than a few members of those who play well above the level of the average musician. I am being intentionally vague here to keep the spotlight away from anywhere besides this chap’s excellent chops and jams, but I will say that a resolution to this debilitating situation is in my prayers because this man can PLAY. Meantime, please enjoy the rest of the fellas in the band because together they are a treasure.
Wednesday
It’s a hump day metal night over at Savage Henry Comedy Club, where the evening has a definite blackened and death-ridden sonic theme. Seattle’s Veriteras sets the dungeon scene and will be walled into the crypt with the likes of fellow travelers Rohirrim and Lazarus. Local hardened, thrashed-out punk act Image Pit will be on hand to seal the mortar. As is the case with other shows of this nature here, it’s an all-ages gig starting at 7 p.m., with a $5-$20 sliding scale entry fee.
Collin Yeo (he/him) doesn’t care if you don’t consider capitalism to be a death cult. If our descendants survive, they are certain to know better than you, anyway. And if they don’t, the results speak for themselves.
This article appears in Portrait of a Prairie.